Men’s Soccer (1-0)
The men’s soccer team made a splash hire following Jeff Cook’s resignation when the Nittany Lions poached Rob Dow from Vermont. Dow led the Catamounts to an NCAA championship in 2024, giving Penn State optimism that he can reboot a program that had gone stale in recent seasons. The Nittany Lions opened the season last night against Mercyhurst and came back from a 2-0 deficit in the first half to sneak away with a 3-2 win.
A penalty shot and a bad turnover in Penn State’s own end allowed the Lakers to take a 2-0 lead in the first half. Amadou Kone got the Lions on the board shortly before halftime to cut Mercyhurst’s lead to 2-1. A red card on Mercyhurst’s Joe Chinchilla gave Penn State a man advantage for the rest of the game, and the Lions capitalized. Joe Sheridan headed in the tying goal off a corner kick in the 68th minute. After applying more offensive pressure in the waning minutes, a tired Mercyhurst defense yielded the game-winning goal for Penn State when a shot by Etienne Reck deflected off a Laker into the net. Penn State’s 16 corner kicks in the game were the most in 17 years for the team.
Penn State will travel to Springfield, Missouri for a road game against Missouri State on Sunday (8pm on ESPN+).
Women’s Soccer (0-1-1)
The women’s soccer team opened with a road contest against No. 2 Notre Dame. Early in the second half, Paige Kalal scored the first goal of the season for Penn State on a great feed from Aubrey Kulpa, and just over a minute later, Kulpa extended the lead to 2-0 with a goal of her own. Notre Dame slowly climbed back in the game, and Lily Joseph scored twice in the final 25 minutes, including one penalty shot, to finish the game with a 2-2 tie. The blown lead was not ideal, but Penn State played a solid road game against a strong opponent.
Penn State fell 2-1 to West Virginia last night. Ana Babcock scored her first NCAA goal in her first start in the 11th minute to give the Lions a 1-0 lead, but Olivia Shertzer tied the game for West Virginia in the 34th minute. Scoring chances were limited in the game, but Sophia Nickel scored the game-winning goal for the Mountaineers in the 68th minute, and the Nittany Lions could not find the tying goal in the dying minutes.
Penn State will play its home opener against Bucknell on Thursday (7:30pm on Big Ten Plus). Erica Dambach will be seeking her 300th win as Penn State’s head coach.
Women’s Volleyball
The women’s volleyball regular season begins next Saturday with the Penn State Invitational, but before the season opener, the Nittany Lions will play in the first-ever Spikes Under the Lights exhibition at AT&T Stadium on Thursday night. Penn State, SMU, Nebraska, and Florida will play for a $1,000,000 purse, a record for a college women’s volleyball event. Each of the four teams will take home $200,000, and the remaining $200,000 will go to the winner of a single-elimination tournament. All three matches will be played in a best-of-three set format.
Nebraska will play Florida in the first semifinal at 8pm, followed by Penn State against SMU at 9pm. The winners of each match will play at 10pm. All three matches will be broadcast on TNT.
